There could be deepening conflict between Indigenous leadership seeking to preserve their culture and Indigenous politicians seeking to conserve their own power and expand their own political influence.

Election Countdown 2012: The Secret Service Is Going to Great Lengths to Protect the Democratic National Convention This Year, and More

In today's Election Countdown 2012 news: The Secret Service is going to great lengths to protect the Democratic National Convention this year, police in California respond to a sidewalk chalk demonstration with riot gear and rubber bullets, County Clerks in Wisconsin are sending back election materials to be "burned", and more.

The want or imperfection of the moral sense in some men, like the want or imperfection of the senses of sight and hearing in others, is no proof that it is a general characteristic of the species. — Thomas Jefferson

Occupy. Tinpot tyrants: “Just after dawn on July 10, Seattle police officers raided a Central District apartment looking for goggles, bandannas, and other evidence of politically motivated vandalism from this year’s May Day protests.” Protest paraphernalia, eh? What isn’t? Or perhaps that’s the point.

CO. Fracking: “[O]nce a gas and oil company gets into your valley, they own you. They own the hospital. They own the commissioners. They own your mountains, and they will do what they want” (MR) Business Week. … County commissioner: “Protecting our water quality is a local concern. The (Oil and Gas Commission) has not helped us protect the water (wells) of Milner, which is why we are having to do it” by defying the Commission and imposing water quality monitoring on an oil well permit (MR).

IL. Jesse Jackson, Jr. imbroglio: “‘Let it go!’ [Former Sen. Roland Burris] yelled. ‘I’ve got enough seniority around here to tell you media people to cool it [Huh?]. You did it to me. Now you’re going to try to do it to Jesse Jr. You’re just hounding people. Go on and get a life.’” If Jackson is suffering from clinical depression, that’s a terrible, sorrowful thing. The wonder is there aren’t more cases in DC. Diagnosed cases.

PA. Ruling class: “Conversations with sources, along with documents obtained by City Paper, portray an expanding network of pro-charter-school organizations close to, and in many cases funded by, [the William Penn Foundation], coordinating with the state-controlled School District to map out the future of Philly public education. Says one observer of city schools: ‘It is a shadow school district that’s being bankrolled by people who don’t even live in the city.’” … Ruling class: “No one disputes that the Philadelphis schools have been horribly, horribly mismanaged. But the solution we’ve hit on is to hand control to the meritocracy — a small cadre of unelected and unaccountable elites (so often intersecting with hedge-fund Captains of the Universe, who have the money to fund these ventures) who worship the power of the free-market — as well as their own intellect. Isn’t that the kind of thinking that crashed Wall Street?” Will Bunch, one of the great Philly bloggers. …. Ruling class: “[Penn State] intends to remodel the football team shower and locker room area as a direct result of Sandusky’s crimes.” Alrighty then. …. Open records: “There is nothing that is public from Penn State,’ [Sara Ganim, who broke Sandusky story, said]. ‘Everything is what you get from people, and there is such a degree of loyalty that prosecutors have even been thrown off by it.’ Some reporters, she said, call Penn State ‘the Kremlin.’”

TN. Guns: “R leaders in Nashville infuriated the NRA this year by refusing to go along with a bill to prevent businesses from banning guns on their property, and now the group is using its deep pockets to try to unseat one of them.”

Robama vs. Obomney. Christopher Caldwell, of all people: “But Mr Romney is not the candidate of the rich. He is a candidate of the rich. So are most candidates in American politics, very much including Mr Obama.” D’oh!

Greens. Time: “Stein and Honkala are trying to occupy a space left by voters, particularly left-leaners, who are fed up with Obama and uninterested in Romney. They expect to be an alternative option on the ballot in 40 states. And they said they bring a different kind of politics to the table, though it doesn’t appear to be a less divisive brand.” Yeah, Americans Elect tried that. Petraeus, government of national unity? … Green National Convention opens in Baltimore, MD: Schedule.

From the Barcalounger: Still with the semantics: “left” Bain, and “actively participated” vs. “no role whatsoever in managing.” What the Obama campaign is frothing and stamping about is the intricate network of influence that surrounds any person of Romney’s wealth and profession; board seats, titles, meetings, paperwork, fiduciary responsibilities, “entities,” etc. I don’t mind the Axelrovians hanging that kleptocratic network round Romney’s neck like the stinking albatross that it is — especially since Romney takes his privileges for granted and gets huffy — if only Obama wasn’t milking the exact same kind of network, albeit with different kleptocrats, to fund his own campaign. The plague on both their houses can’t come soon enough for me. I mean, what’s Obama’s problem, here? That Romney wasn’t a “savvy” enough businessman? Such a shame he can’t run on his record!

* 56 days ’til the Democratic National Convention ends with locally sourced rubber chicken on the floor of the Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC. The Declaration of Independence had 56 signers.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Election Countdown 2012: The Secret Service Is Going to Great Lengths to Protect the Democratic National Convention This Year, and More

In today's Election Countdown 2012 news: The Secret Service is going to great lengths to protect the Democratic National Convention this year, police in California respond to a sidewalk chalk demonstration with riot gear and rubber bullets, County Clerks in Wisconsin are sending back election materials to be "burned", and more.

The want or imperfection of the moral sense in some men, like the want or imperfection of the senses of sight and hearing in others, is no proof that it is a general characteristic of the species. — Thomas Jefferson

Occupy. Tinpot tyrants: “Just after dawn on July 10, Seattle police officers raided a Central District apartment looking for goggles, bandannas, and other evidence of politically motivated vandalism from this year’s May Day protests.” Protest paraphernalia, eh? What isn’t? Or perhaps that’s the point.

CO. Fracking: “[O]nce a gas and oil company gets into your valley, they own you. They own the hospital. They own the commissioners. They own your mountains, and they will do what they want” (MR) Business Week. … County commissioner: “Protecting our water quality is a local concern. The (Oil and Gas Commission) has not helped us protect the water (wells) of Milner, which is why we are having to do it” by defying the Commission and imposing water quality monitoring on an oil well permit (MR).

IL. Jesse Jackson, Jr. imbroglio: “‘Let it go!’ [Former Sen. Roland Burris] yelled. ‘I’ve got enough seniority around here to tell you media people to cool it [Huh?]. You did it to me. Now you’re going to try to do it to Jesse Jr. You’re just hounding people. Go on and get a life.’” If Jackson is suffering from clinical depression, that’s a terrible, sorrowful thing. The wonder is there aren’t more cases in DC. Diagnosed cases.

PA. Ruling class: “Conversations with sources, along with documents obtained by City Paper, portray an expanding network of pro-charter-school organizations close to, and in many cases funded by, [the William Penn Foundation], coordinating with the state-controlled School District to map out the future of Philly public education. Says one observer of city schools: ‘It is a shadow school district that’s being bankrolled by people who don’t even live in the city.’” … Ruling class: “No one disputes that the Philadelphis schools have been horribly, horribly mismanaged. But the solution we’ve hit on is to hand control to the meritocracy — a small cadre of unelected and unaccountable elites (so often intersecting with hedge-fund Captains of the Universe, who have the money to fund these ventures) who worship the power of the free-market — as well as their own intellect. Isn’t that the kind of thinking that crashed Wall Street?” Will Bunch, one of the great Philly bloggers. …. Ruling class: “[Penn State] intends to remodel the football team shower and locker room area as a direct result of Sandusky’s crimes.” Alrighty then. …. Open records: “There is nothing that is public from Penn State,’ [Sara Ganim, who broke Sandusky story, said]. ‘Everything is what you get from people, and there is such a degree of loyalty that prosecutors have even been thrown off by it.’ Some reporters, she said, call Penn State ‘the Kremlin.’”

TN. Guns: “R leaders in Nashville infuriated the NRA this year by refusing to go along with a bill to prevent businesses from banning guns on their property, and now the group is using its deep pockets to try to unseat one of them.”

Robama vs. Obomney. Christopher Caldwell, of all people: “But Mr Romney is not the candidate of the rich. He is a candidate of the rich. So are most candidates in American politics, very much including Mr Obama.” D’oh!

Greens. Time: “Stein and Honkala are trying to occupy a space left by voters, particularly left-leaners, who are fed up with Obama and uninterested in Romney. They expect to be an alternative option on the ballot in 40 states. And they said they bring a different kind of politics to the table, though it doesn’t appear to be a less divisive brand.” Yeah, Americans Elect tried that. Petraeus, government of national unity? … Green National Convention opens in Baltimore, MD: Schedule.

From the Barcalounger: Still with the semantics: “left” Bain, and “actively participated” vs. “no role whatsoever in managing.” What the Obama campaign is frothing and stamping about is the intricate network of influence that surrounds any person of Romney’s wealth and profession; board seats, titles, meetings, paperwork, fiduciary responsibilities, “entities,” etc. I don’t mind the Axelrovians hanging that kleptocratic network round Romney’s neck like the stinking albatross that it is — especially since Romney takes his privileges for granted and gets huffy — if only Obama wasn’t milking the exact same kind of network, albeit with different kleptocrats, to fund his own campaign. The plague on both their houses can’t come soon enough for me. I mean, what’s Obama’s problem, here? That Romney wasn’t a “savvy” enough businessman? Such a shame he can’t run on his record!

* 56 days ’til the Democratic National Convention ends with locally sourced rubber chicken on the floor of the Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC. The Declaration of Independence had 56 signers.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.